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Ganguly a serial offender, cry Oz media

Agencies

Posted: Oct 14, 2008 at 1331 hrs IST
      

Melbourne, October 14:: Intentionally or inadvertently, Sourav Ganguly continues to rub Australians the wrong way and the media in Melbourne poured vitriol on the former India skipper, accusing him of indulging in delaying tactics to ensure the Bangalore Test ended in a draw.

The popular belief here is that Australia were destined to win the Bangalore Test but the existing light rule, coupled with Ganguly's delaying tactics, denied Ricky Ponting's men victory in the first of the four-match Test series.

A member of the 'National Nine News' sports team took a potshot at anyone and everyone but was particularly harsh on Ganguly, whom he described as a "serial offender".

"Serial offender Sourav Ganguly firstly persuaded the umpires to go off. Then when play resumed, Ganguly made Australia's fielders and partner VVS Laxman wait an eternity because he'd apparently 'forgotten to put his thigh pad on'.

"Please! Can't you be timed out in this game?" he wrote.

According to him, the spectators were the obvious losers in the entire exercise.

"The players got something out of it. Pedantic officials got their moment of the glory. But billions of fans and more importantly - the game itself - got nothing out of this farcical finish in Bangalore," he remarked.

Criticising umpire Asad Rauf and Rudy Koertzen, the writer said, "With the match in the balance, a crucial hour's play on the final day was lost, with not one, but two stoppages for bad light - when at times the sun was shining!

"Umpires strutted about like Emperor Penguins, holding out their light metres - a device that like performance enhancing drugs should be banned." Asserting that such finishes would do no good to the game, he went on to say, "If Test cricket continues to produce farcical finishes like this one in Bangalore, this great game's Bradmans, Gavaskars, Tendulkars and Pontings will also be soon forgotten... Even by their mothers-in-law!"

Meanwhile, a 'Fox Sports' cricket commentator went on to demand amendments in International Cricket Council's existing light rules.

"I thought the light was fine and they really need to change the rules regarding that aspect of the game," he said.

"There has to be some pressure placed on the ICC over this as there was no danger at all out there. I'm standing out here half an hour after play has finished, and while it's getting a bit dark now, it was fine half an hour ago and they first came off several hours ago. People come to the ground to watch Test cricket and the light was pretty good and not dangerous at all," he asserted.

'Fox Sports' also invited readers to comment whether poor light should be allowed to influence the outcome of a game and whether India played the match in the right spirit.

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  • Comments
     
Oz Media???!!!!
by Raj on 2008-10-15 15:59:35.356082+05:30
Just imagine what the Oz media would have said if the Aussies were batting last! Its a joke.
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True Spirit Australians???????
by Virat K. Shah on 2008-10-15 09:55:38.316538+05:30
Its really a joke to expect True Spirit/Sportmanship from Aussies, which has been proved time and again.They are the worst when it comes to True Spirit of the Game.The best example is the Sydney Test.Why did the aussie media not criticise their home team for unfair play during the Sydney Test?
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Its hard to look in the mirror.
by Brian on 2008-10-15 15:33:29.460978+05:30
We have seen Indian sportsmanship, Slap (assault) your team mates. One thing we have seen Australia do is win 4 Test series in India, soon to be 5, we have yet to see India win any Tests series in Australia.
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bean counter?
by Prakash on 2008-10-15 17:15:16.294909+05:30
exactly- this shows how desperate you guys can get to win! talking about looking at mirrors, i doubt if you have one. But never mind, just ask the south africans, west indians, sri-lankans, etc. etc. for a report on the aussie "sportsmanship". Be thankful that aussies have not been slapped yet (i hear their soccer team and tennis stars were spat on) for their continued antics out of desperation. Looks like there is a pattern here.
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Desperate?
by Brian on 2008-10-17 19:37:15.615913+05:30
Australia has nothing to prove, we have been the best cricket team in both Test and ODI formats for the last 15 years, it is India who are desperate to prove something and with their test record of the last few years they need to do something, because India are only 2 points ahead of Australia in the 20/20 Rankings and we are determined to leave India with all three Titles.
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serial cry babies
by Prakash on 2008-10-15 08:38:46.96607+05:30
It's a joke to think that the aussies had any chance of winning in Bangalore. These aussie journos from silly tabloids are like despos jumping up and down screaming their heads off. Don't they have anything better to do? At other times these same shameless tabloids justify everything that their players do on and off the field - take for example hayden calling Bhajji "obnoxious weed". Almost everyone in the aussie camp start to look like an obnoxious weed once they know they are not winning.
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childish tantrums
by Prakash on 2008-10-15 08:22:20.374224+05:30
It's a joke to think that the aussies had any chance of winning in Bangalore. If they wanted a competitive game, they would not have set a target of 300 and played on even on the last day!. These despo journos from silly tabloids who jump up and down screaming like like their backsides are on fire then go on to justify everything that their players do on and off the field.
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Aussie doomsday
by Swapan Chakravarthy on 2008-10-15 08:06:07.898182+05:30
The Aussie's are whingers. When they can't cheat to win, they whinge by calling others as cheats.
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